Someone - not Thing! - to Watch Over You
by The Princess Maker
Summary: After putting a stop to Edgar's game, Josie gets another visit - and a special message - from a familiar visitor. WARNING: Spoilers to those who haven't read the book!


**Copyrights go to Christine Hayes, the author of** _ **Mothman's Curse**_ **.**

 **The story icon was found on Pinterest and is not mine either.**

 **I own only the plot.**

 **WARNING: Spoilers to those who haven't read the book!**

* * *

We were glad to put Mothman and his vicious curse behind us. Our time at the state fair was the happiest we'd been since the whole thing started (and believe it or not, Fox ended up _buying_ that skeleton key!).

Still, I got this weird feeling whenever I thought about the final confrontation between Edgar, John, and me. Then, the night we arrived back home, Mason asked me and Fox if the ghost was able to go to Heaven now since the people at the Field House were saved. That's when I realized it how much I missed John and wish that I had been able to say a better goodbye. He's most likely enjoying himself up above now that he and the others affected by the curse have been freed.

However, my curiosity got the better of me. After kissing Momma's picture goodnight, I wished for a sign.

 **(***)**

You know the feeling where you realize you're in a dream and slowly wake yourself up? I fell asleep and come to the understanding that I'm on my feet. I open my eyes and find myself at the top of the stairs inside the Goodrich house. Although...there are some visible differences. The wallpaper, once peeling, is now bright with orange bird silhouettes; I can see one of the Persian rugs, now all spread out. The thick velvet curtains that shielded the site of the ruined mountain are tied back, letting bright sunlight flood the whole house.

I move to look out the window and to my surprise, instead of a devastated landscape, it is as if the mountain has rebuilt itself!

"Looks much better now, don't you think?" It's John! I turn around and he's standing by the front door, looking as he did in his wedding photo. I feel so relieved and excited at seeing him that I run over and hug him before I could think otherwise.

"How are you here? Are you still trapped here? What-?" I ask in rapid excitement, confusion, and I'm not gonna lie, trepidation. _Did we not break the curse after all?_

"Whoa, slow down there!" he said, patting my shoulder. "Let's go outside." We walk out to the front porch, which looks like it has been restored, and sit down.

"I must admit, I had doubts about whether or not touching someone or something would truly break the curse or not. But the moment you grabbed him, it was like...a weight had been taken off of me."

"Is everyone else who wore the pin in life freed?" I asked nervously.

"Absolutely!" comes a cheerful voice and a woman comes out of the house with a tray of drinks.

"Mrs. Goodrich!" I gasped.

"Please, dear, call me Nora. 'Mrs. Goodrich' makes me sound so... _old._ " Beside her, John hides a smile. "But to answer your question, yes. All those who wore the pin over the years have been freed. Including Elsie. And William, who was the only death that was intentional." That was surprising to hear and it made me ask something else I'd been wondering.

"What about Edgar?" Nora's smile vanishes and she glances at her husband.

"Edgar is exactly where he belongs, Josie, and that's all we need to know about him. However," he gets this mysterious smile and look in his eyes. "If such a moth-like creature shows up somewhere - and who knows, the world is full of mysterious things - we can guarantee you, it _would not_ be Edgar."

"Okay..." I am about to ask more, but then I hear what sounds like a gong or a bell off in the distance somewhere. John and Nora get a knowing look on their faces, and the area off down the hill starts to... _dissolve_ or something. Although everything suddenly starting to vanish didn't worry me (for some reason), I remembered that in books or on TV, this is what happens when ghosts _are saying their farewells!_

I struggled to find my voice as I begin to process the thought of not seeing the Goodrichs anymore. "I-is there anything you wish to p-pass on, to other family?"

"Why do you look so down?" John suddenly asks and then, as if he's realized it, "Oh, dear. We're sorry, we didn't mean to frighten you. But you see -"

"There are no more relatives for us to relay anything to." Nora continues. "We were the last of our respective families. But since we did not many friends and since Eva lives nearby -"

"We have decided we're going to stay and watch over you and your family." John states and he gives me the biggest, most sincere smile he's given me yet.

Despite the fact that the dissolving landscape had almost reached the porch, I gaped at them. "You mean, you're gonna be, like, our guardian angels or something?!"

"That's right." Nora added. "It would sure beat having a icky creature that watches you instead!" She waves a hand and the three of us are standing inside the house at the bottom of the stairs. "To make getting back easier, just go back up the stairs."

"So this _isn't_ goodbye?" I ask as I started to climb.

"Only for now. Rest assured, Josie, we will not be too far away - if you should ever need us. Before you leave, I have a message for you from a delightful and somewhat loud woman named Caroline."

At John's mention of the name, I stopped in my tracks and turn around. Caroline is _Momma's_ name! Before I could react any further John reaches up from his step and _HE HUGS ME_.

"She said she's so proud of you, and wants you to _keep being you_..." he whispers in my ear and for some reason his voice sounds like it's echoing and I feel like we're spinning...

 **(***)**

I open my eyes, feeling like I have been flopped over on my back. Sunlight is pouring in my room. I sit up, a rush of happiness coming over me as I thought of what I have learned - and I grin as I hear Fox and Mason chatting over breakfast.

"Fox! Mason!" I call after I kiss Momma's picture and scramble out of bed. "Wait 'til you hear this!"

( _As she runs out of her room, the view slowly turns to her bedside table. Close-up of Momma's picture, then newspaper clippings of the tornado and subsequent articles on the Goodrich estate, and finally a picture of the Goodrichs._ )

( _They are smiling._ )

* * *

 **Hi, there! I hope you enjoyed my one-shot take on Christine Hayes's first book _Mothman's Curse_. If you like stories with curses, mystery, kid heroes and a real-life legendary creature, then I suggest you read this book!**

 **As for the one-shot itself, I wrote this because I felt that Josie didn't get a better farewell with John Goodrich and I thought that was a bummer, because over the course of the book it seemed like they were just starting (after getting to a point where they could actually _speak_ to one another) to be friends. I also thought it would be fun if John and Nora - since they never had kids - watch over Josie and her brothers like their children, along with the kids' deceased mother :D 'Caroline' is the name I chose for her mother, because in my readings I've never come across it. **

**As for the story icon (which _doesn't_ belong to me!), I was originally going to find a moth pin like the one in the book but I found this one instead. I think it is a good choice because in the book Mothman is associated with darkness and this clearly isn't! XD **

**Again, I hoped you enjoyed this little take on one of my favorite books! Thanks for reading!**


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